Snowmageddon

Today is day 2 of what we're calling snowmageddon. We've had a terrible ice/snow/sleet/freeze storm (along with a bunch of other states around the country) and we've been trapped inside our house for two days. I will caveat with the gratefulness that we have a nice warm house with food and water and electricity and gas - so we aren't suffering all that much. But we are feeling a twinge of cabin fever. Pair that with weird schedules because we can't go to work given the kids' daycare is closed and the fact that we're all a little tired, and you get some punchy people.

Tonight I made dumplings from a friend's recipe (yum!) along with steamed broccoli and cauliflower for dinner. (And a delicious concoction of rice cereal for the almost 6 month old who refuses to eat what the rest of us are eating. I'm looking at you B.) Anyway, apparently N thinks dumplings are the best thing since sliced bread, so he's working on his second (very large) bowl, while E and I were eating at a more human-pace. You know, where you can actually talk to each other instead of just saying "More please" with your mouth full. I'm trying to take N's enthusiastic eating as a complement while talking to my husband.

E: What'd you season these vegetables with?

A: Just kosher salt. Why?

E: I'm remembering that I just really don't like cauliflower.

A: Looks at him quizzically.

E: I just wanted to make sure you didn't season the vegetables with horrible or something.

A: Right, because in between the salt and the onion powder I keep shakers of "horrible", "awful", and "I can't believe you're going to make me eat this".

E: I know, so I was just making sure.

A: Laughs

E: Laughs

N: Laughs because mom and dad are laughing and spits dumplings all over the table in the process Uh oh. More please!

Plans versus reality

Today's plan:
* Get up, enjoy leisurely breakfast with family.
* Drop N off at daycare and head to a half day of work.
* Enjoy lunch with the hubby while speculating about new baby's gender.
* Attend sonogram appointment to find out baby's gender.
* Go buy new baby cute coming home from hospital clothes.
* Pick up wonderful happy smiling son, N.
* Enjoy the beautiful day outside together at the park.
* Dinner as a family.
* N goes to bed, head out with some girlfriends.
* Come home and spend time with the wonderful hubby.
* Bedtime for me!

Today's actuality
* Get up, try to get N to take a bottle but he doesn't want it - no fever and still good mood though. Maybe because of hiccups?
* Drop N off at daycare with the warning that he wouldn't eat for us, but is happy otherwise. Head to work.
* Get in car to go to lunch, have message from N's school about baby with potential stomach bug. No fever, so still okay to have lunch, though now both of us worry.
* Finish lunch and receive call from N's school that he's, yes, actually really sick. Head straight to N's school to pick him up.
* Impromptu visit to the pediatrician. Make sure son isn't dehydrated. Swear to doctor that even though N has just eaten 3 oz of formula sitting in her office that he hasn't eaten ANYTHING else all day. Swear.
* Head to sonogram appointment - this time with N. N behaves fantastically the whole time we're in the waiting room.
* Go into actual sonogram appointment. Commence tired baby whining/crying. New baby looks fabulous. All parts of new baby. All parts except the ones that tell us if the new baby is a boy baby or girl baby. Legs firmly crossed. No uncrossing in sight. Leave without knowledge of baby gender, but with now sleeping baby and knowledge of a healthy one on the way.
* Put now sleeping baby in car and head home, skip all shopping.
* E gets emergency call from work. Skip park as family in favor of E going to work and A & N walking the dog around the neighborhood.
* Feed N half a bottle instead of dinner as family.
* Still go out with girls upon husband's insistence. Have very good time recounting weird day, also experience sympathetic words at not being able to know baby's gender yet. Text husband repeatedly to make sure sick baby is fine. And also that he is fine.
* Head home, eat ice cream and blog while watching TV with husband.
* Head to bed.

Not exactly what we expected. However, N will be fine. Someday we'll figure out the new baby's gender. Ice cream is delicious and my husband loves me. Overall, not such a terrible day afterall.

Regifting

There is a phenomenon known as regifting. Myself, until recently, had never actually tried regifting something. It felt tacky. It felt cheap. It felt out and out wrong.

However, I now find myself the proud (and exhausted) mother of a fresh new baby. I don't have the leisurely time for shopping that I used to have. (Nor do I have my dedicated shopping buddy D, who is currently located somewhere in the city of Denver - far far away from Dallas.) So getting out to find gifts for much of anything is a new and terrific challenge that has to be squeezed in between feedings and naps and bath time/bedtime. It's amazingly complicated and I have new and fresh appreciation for all parents out there.

Because of these constraints, I found a need for a gift that was filled perfectly by a gift I recently received. I already had one of these things, which albeit useful, are not needed in multiples. I'll leave the details of the gift out of this, but suffice it to say that this particular gift was still sealed in its original packaging. It had been sitting on our entry bench for maybe five months. It was waiting for a good home. We weren't providing it one. So when I needed a gift for this particular occasion, it was perfect. I marched myself upstairs and pulled out a gift bag (also given as a gift, but more generally accepted for reuse) and put the regift in it. I surrounded it with tissue paper and wrote on a card. All things considered, it was a lovely gift and would be perfect for this occasion.

All this is true, so why do I feel so guilty about it?

Summer in Texas

Summer in Texas means mini-watermelon. Zoee is in heaven.

We've had an exhausting couple of weeks. Four weeks, five days, to be exact. Yes, that is how many days N has been in the world. And yes, we've loved every exhausting minute of it - even the ones that we couldn't wait to be over. (Crying at 3 am? Really little man, we all like to sleep at that time.) Because we've had so much fun, we've been pooped. N and E took a nap to relax and recoup from some recent excitement.

N's latest and greatest discovery... He's able to hold on to things. His favorite thing to hold onto is his pacifier. He really likes sitting in his swing and holding on to his pacifier. As a complete aside - E really hates this swing and as also sees it as an opportunity for teaching. Notice that N is leaning back against a polar bear. Next to the polar bear is very clearly - a penguin. This drives E crazy, but he has pointed out that he can teach N just how very wrong this is.

We've started having a lot of tummy time. N and E really enjoy hanging out on the floor. N thinks this is great for N. He doesn't so much love the term "tummy time". He prefers referring to this as "exercise".

Sometimes N loves tummy time. Sometimes N hates tummy time. Fortunately, during this particular session he was happy and excited. We managed to catch two of his newest feats at the same time. He's smiling AND holding on to a toy. E thinks he's very advanced. I think he's adorable. Regardless, he's one of the cutes pictures we've caught so far.

Hormones...

Today at 11:30 am I found myself feeding the baby, eating lunch, and watching reruns of Full House. I've done pretty well being at home with Zoee and the little man - not too many episodes of post-pregnancy hormonal breakdowns. However, today as I watched Danny and Vicky break off their engagement because she was taking a job in New York and couldn't live in San Francisco with the whole gang, I found myself tearing up. Poor Danny and Vicky. I FEEL for them. It's AWFUL! Wait, isn't this an episode of a comedy from my childhood?

I might as well be crying at Kodak commercials.

Fortunately the next commercial was for Blue Bell ice cream.

It's almost time for the little man's nap too - which means it's just about time for me to hit the treadmill and resume the closet clean-out. Only if he actually goes to sleep though. Keep your fingers crossed. I'm not particularly good at napping myself, so I'm trying to be productive while he sleeps. It's amazing how long it takes to do things now with a little man to take care of. He's so handsome and easy to talk to, but he is a little clingy. Fine for a baby, not so great for a date.

Our first date

There are few things that I missed during pregnancy more than the delicious provision of sushi. Super white tuna, salmon, tuna tataki, various rolls... Including the Rowlett roll (shrimp tempura and avocado inside topped with layer of spicy mayo and crab meat) and the Rockwall roll (shrimp tempura, crab meat, fried crawfish, avocado, and cream cheese). There is a restaurant right on Lake Ray Hubbard called Kyoto that is the best sushi within 25 miles of our house. In fact, we have to drive by this particular location every day on the way to and from work. Every day I looked closely at the restaurant with some degree of sadness and an intense level of longing.

After N was born, one of the first things that I wanted to do was have a substantial nosh at the sushi bar. Unfortunately, N is not particularly interested in any type of food that doesn't contain a substantial amount of lactose and is being readily produced by me. In addition, as adorable, loveable, and fantastic as N is, he's not particularly interested in sitting down for a leisurely dinner.

N does have a number of excited and interested grandparents, and they are super excited to visit and hang out with him. This happened yesterday, when E's parents came down to hang out with the little guy (I mean, hang out with US). They came down, made us lunch, then stuck around long enough to play with N and let E and me head out to dinner. (Just the two of us! Really!) It was fantastic.

An hour later, bloated with Kirin and sushi, we headed back home. Sure, we spent the majority of dinner discussing the little guy - such exciting topics as poop, sleep habits, and things that we found adorable that most normal people would never even consider. (His right ear is absolutely ADORABLE - don't you agree? It's fantastic the way his little toes curl... Etc.) But we had the greatest time ever. It was fabulous.

I can't wait for more dates. And more time with N. This is a good life.

Lazy afternoon

Our friends J and G came to visit this weekend. We all had a great time catching up and we even visited the Dallas World Aquarium downtown. That place is amazing! Our dogs fell in love with each other while we did all this. Zoee loves other dogs, and apparently their dog Oreo does too. It was a match made in heaven. J has all of the great pictures of them playing on her camera, but I thought I'd share what happened to Zoee after they left. All she wants to do is lay on her bed and listen to E play the blues.

She misses her new buddy. That, and she's exhausted.

Blueberry goodness

There are few ways better to start a weekend than with blueberry pancakes. Especially ones with 100% pure maple syrup - none of this corn syrup mess that passes for pancake syrup. I'm talking about the stuff that has to be refrigerated after opening. He knows how I feel about this, so he's made sure to get the real stuff. The best part of this blueberry breakfast? Someone who loves me very much has made it for me on this, the first morning of the year where temperatures dip dangerously close to the freezing mark. So when I climb out of bed with mussed up hair and flannel pants and a sweatshirt (looking my absolute best), there he is, cooking me a delicious breakfast.

All in all, a great way to start a morning.

I promise not to turn this blog into baby-stravaganza but...

Today we got new ultrasound photos. Our baby actually looks like, er, a BABY! I wanted to share.

Our own history in the making

On today, November 4th, 2008, a day when history will be made and this country elects either our first black president or our first female vice president, E and I have big news of our own. We've been waiting to share, and in a break from following election coverage and reading about the election and being overwhelmed by the whole democratic process, we thought we'd post about it.
What you're looking at is exactly what you think it is. Well, except that it's already almost three weeks old. This is a picture of our baby - taken on October 15th. We were 9 weeks along then, and we're 12 weeks along tomorrow. Only one more week until we're past the whole of the first trimester!

I've been feeling fine, with none of the terrible things that happen to some women during the first trimester. I've been nauseous only a few times, and mostly it was because I let myself get too hungry. Being hungry while being pregnant is like nothing I've ever experienced before. When you get hungry, it is time to eat *NOW* - regardless of what is going on around you. I don't care if the priest is talking - if I don't eat right now in the middle of Mass I will quite possibly pass out. Either that or I might throw up and eat anything even resembling food all at the same time. It's bizarre, but apparently quite normal to feel this way.

My clothes still fit (but I bet if you knew me before you'd wonder if I'd stopped doing crunches or started really living it up with the Blue Bell). I'm still exercising, and I'm trying to get all my running in now as my doctor doesn't want me to keep running after 20 weeks. She says that elliptical machines and walking are good enough and that running will cause too much stretching. I have no idea what that means, but it doesn't sound pleasant. I had to give up my soccer team for the duration of the pregnancy, which really makes me sad, but hopefully they'll have me back after the baby is born and I've recovered.

We're really excited about Baby H. E has been amazing through the whole thing. He watches me like a hawk. He's there with a snack before I realize I need one. He makes me rest when I'm getting worn out and won't slow down. He even has a book called "The Expectant Father's Guide" that he has been reading. Sometimes he knows things even I don't! I couldn't ask for a better husband.

Anyway, that's our big story! Look for news on Isabelle Kay/Nathan Dean as things develop.

Autumn is upon us

This week marks the first week with sustained temperatures less than 80 degrees. People are ecstatic about this. For E and me, this week marks the first week we see anyone besides the most dedicated of dog-walkers and joggers out in the evenings. Who are these people? They live on OUR street? *Ehem* Right, I knew that.

Anyway, this week marked a sort of milestone in the household. Because it's getting to be "cold" and people are starting to notice a "chill", I felt like it was time to break out the sweaters. Today I wore a sweater all day long and was totally comfortable. I almost needed an additional pullover.

It's a lot like Colorado in early September. I'd take this weather for months if I could have it.

Five years, oil on canvas

When E and I decided to move back to Texas, it was one of the hardest things we'd ever had to do. Second only perhaps to moving away in the first place. When we moved, we'd been in Colorado for five years, and in that time made some pretty amazing friends. Our family is in Texas, but we'd managed to cultivate a pretty fantastic surrogate family up there too.

When we finally moved back, we were thrilled to be near family again, but there were definitely things about Colorado that we missed. I'm pretty sure the family knew this, because as a housewarming present, my dad and T gave us a piece of art done by T's uncle - Jerry McWilliams (he's great!). This particular painting is of Wolf Creek Pass in the fall. The frame we ordered for it finally came in, and now we can enjoy a little piece of Colorado even here in the Big D.

A new toy

Happy birthday! This is the present my fabulous husband got me:
Okay, that one isn't mine. That's a picture of one that someone took with a really nice camera and some knowledge of how to take pictures of glowing screens that I found on Wiki. This one is mine, and I love it love it love it. Need to map yourself? Use the built in GPS and map finding tools! Need to check your email for some crazy reason - no problem! Listen to music? It's also an iPod! Want to buy something on Woot? Go for it! Oh yeah, you can actually use it as a phone too. Amazing!

The best feature? There's an application you can download (for free!) that lets you use it as a flashlight. This is the Swiss Army Phone.

Homebound weekend

This weekend marks the first in over eight weeks where E and I haven't either had to go somewhere, had people visiting, or were otherwise occupied with extensive things to do. In other words, this weekend consisted or absolutely no plans whatsoever. What do you do at a time like this? Household chores you've neglected for eight weeks, that's what.

E is in charge of mowing and trimming, so I tend to gardens and any plants that live in planters. Remember, I am a TERRIBLE gardener. I have a ficus given to me as a gift by a fantastic set of women (my mom and grandma), that I have successfully not killed for over six months now. However, it is on the brink of demise - almost always, since the day it arrived in our home. On a suggestion from both my mom and mother-in-law, I trimmed all branches that seemed dead and kept only the live limbs. This amused my husband so much that he took multiple photos of my poor plant. (He's named Ben - because the scientific name is ficus benjamina and we are nerdy, nerdy people.).And here's a picture of my dog, simply because I can't go an entire weekend at home without taking a photo of her. Notice how she's sitting in her doghouse... Also a gift from my grandma. She really likes it in there - especially when mowing or trimming is happening.
E was nice enough to stand by one of my alphias so I could take a picture of how tall it seems to be. It's growing fantastically and looks amazing. I'm very grateful for plants that require almost no attention from me. This one just seems to grow and grow. Next year, I expect flowers. (That dirt spot? That's from the sprinkler installation earlier this summer. Don't worry, it will grow back - or so I tell myself.)

We saw the in-laws for dinner, cleaned and manicured the house, and even managed to watch a movie on HBO (free until the end of the year!). Sunday after church we had fullfilled almost everything we had not planned for the weekend. So what to do next? Head to the driving range for some awful golf practice (in efforts to not be so terrible). We each hit a large bag and according to E, about 10% of our shots went exactly where we wanted. That's an improvement! And check out the awesome golf shoes I got on super sale at the Nike outlet for 85% off! Who can resist that? Not a budding golf junkie like me! Now all we have to do is watch the Cowboys beat the Browns and eat take-out Chinese. It's been a great weekend.

Labor day without laboring

She is a certain first full week at work at a company in the wide wonderful world that is Denver, Colorado. Aurora, to be exact. Both of us are terrified and feel ridiculous, lost even. Her from Kansas, me from Texas, by way of grad school in Fort Collins. There's something about being thrown into an office together that can really cause two people to bond. What started out as a few questions at work turned into evenings full of sushi. Days full of shopping at any given mall in Colorado. Weekend trips with nothing in front of us but two whole days of mountains. I do miss her terribly, and when she and her husband decided to visit us here in Texas, we were more than happy to oblige.

What's a visit to the H household without a round of (absolutely terrible) golf? Okay, so E and I are terrible. D is even still a beginner. Her husband, hereafter referred to as R, played golf in college. So while we were out there hacking away at things, he managed to shoot par or below par on every whole. E managed to hit par once, D had a couple of amazing drives, and I even managed to get a bogey once! Trust me, when you golf like I do, a bogey is awesome. Regardless, we had a great time. So great, in fact, that the guys went out for another round the two days later while D and I hit up the stores. In between we managed to throw in some downtown Dallas touring, lots of dominoes and euchre, and even went to a Rangers game! I just wish we could see our whole dinner club again... Can't wait until we see everyone again during our February visit to Denver. That's right, I said February and Denver and visit all at once. What can I say, Texas heat will make you long for those cold winters and down comforters.


There's that one person you can always count on to do anything for you.

Lake Ray Hubbard, I have a crush on you

On this, the first Satuday without a regimented plan in nearly a month, E and I headed out to the lake with Zoee. The lake is blissful. Boating is heavenly. Floating around processing sun into vitamin D is good for my bones. Anyway, we were super excited.

Zoee is a Labrador, which means she LOVES the water. But it's hard to pull a wet, swimming dog into the boat without any leverage. Today we tried a new tactic. We put her in a life preserver. This not only improved our ability to pull her back in, but it also gave her endurance she's never known before.

Needless to say, after two hours of nonstop swimming, we were finished. After a long nap and some drying out, and this afternoon, she's ready to go again.

The tie that binds

Okay, so this picture is some two or three years ago, but in it you'll find three generations. Mom, me, and my grandma... Since I can remember, the three of us have been something of a team. This is illustrated no more brilliantly than on the day many call "Black Friday". We were like some kind of unstoppable force on Black Friday. Christmas presents purchased for everyone and anyone - if it was something someone - ANYONE - needed, we were on top of it. We were something of shopping dynamos.

Then came the day when E and I moved to Colorado, which is a state far far from Texas, when put in terms of a weekend drive for a shopping trip. The Black Friday madness was put on hiatus - indefinitely. With me living some 1200 miles away, shopping all day long was a far-fetched impossibility. It was a sad day for the dynamic trio. Black Friday indeed - the words held something of a sinister meaning all of the sudden for us. It was the day we USED TO have a bonding moment that none of the men in the family could understand.

Flash forward five years, and we find me all moved back to Texas. Driving - no problem. Shopping, on again! In an effort to make up for lost time, my mom and grandmother drove up to Rockwall to spend the weekend shopping in the Big D. Black Friday be or not, we were going to go shopping whenever we felt like it - holiday or not. We hit up every mall that we could think of. We spent two hours in Ikea alone! It was a shopping extravaganza. We had really returned to our original shopping glory. We were full of fun - talking and catching up. It was just like old times. The only thing is, Black Friday is on a Friday. Typically we have an entire weekend to recover from elbowing little old ladies out of the best bargains. I'm exhausted. Next time we'll have to go on a Friday - just so I have plenty of time to recover.

My mom and grandmother? Ready for another round. I'm the wuss in this family battle.

Everything's bigger in Texas

This weekend we had a friend visit us from Colorado. In Denver, this is the guy we could always count on for anything. A good conversation, a drink after work, someone to play with your dog... This guy is pretty much all around one of our favorite people in the world. So we were SUPER excited to have him visit.

We did all kinds of fabulous Dallas-y things while he was here. First and foremost (and perhaps most importantly) we spent hours on Friday afternoon floating around the lake catching up. You'd be amazed how easy it is to catch up on a lake, especially when it's 104 degrees outside and all you want to do is stay as submerged as possible. It was great. We found a quiet cove and just swam the afternoon away. After all this we went to dinner, but it's amazing what a day of work, swimming, and sun will do to you, especially when you throw in a few drinks. We were exhausted.

There are some things about Dallas that are unique to the city. The 6th floor museum near Dealay Plaza, the West End, the Texas Rangers, the Arboretum... Plus all the Mexican food you can handle. And Blue Bell ice cream. Songs about Texas playing over loudspeakers everywhere... We did it all. And had a fantastic time doing it.

It was great to catch up. We can't wait until the next time we get together again. I just hope next time E does all the driving.

Yes, I do mean 105

Tomorrow we have a friend visiting from Denver. We are SUPER excited about this. He's never really experienced the glory of Texas, and we're going to do our best to show it to him. We're going to eat BBQ. We're going to watch the Rangers. We're going to go boating. However, beyond that, we're going to have to stay inside. He's coming from something I know well... Mild, temperate summers that invite you to put out a hammock and waste away a Sunday afternoon reading a good book. I'm not sure he knows what he's getting into.

We're totally going to use my lime in Mexican beer though. It's time. My lime tree has produced a glorious lime, which will totally be used.

Two and a half years

My wonderful husband and I have been married for two and a half years as of tomorrow. Why, you might wonder, would two people celebrate a half-year anniversary? Well, I will tell you.

The first reason? We like each other. Really. We do. Talking to each other is a serious highlight in both of our days, so if we can isolate some time to enjoy it, we do.

The second reason? This dress that I'm wearing. That's right. We orchestrated a situation in which I could wear this dress, because I've owned it for almost a year and have yet to find the appropriate season/event to which it can be worn. For this, my husband decided that our two point five was the perfect occasion to bust it out.

To celebrate our half-year anniversary and to wear the dress, we went to a certain Dallas dining establishment known for their triumvirate of forks. At this particular restaurant, they are well known for their steaks and if you are me, their truffle speckled creamed corn. It is one of those places where you have a waiter dedicated to only your table, you never ever run out of ice water, and they are very careful to scrape all the crumbs off the table between courses with that little bread scraper thingie. This is a restaurant where the valet always parks the cars that cost approximately half as much as your house in front and your bug splattered vehicle gets shunted to the back with the rest of the common folk.

We enjoyed delicious scallops wrapped in bacon, the most incredible steak of all time (I get the filet, he has the NY strip), followed by bread pudding and creme brulee. We had a fabulous bottle of wine and some terrific coffee. I'm not one to leave a good dessert down, but I will admit that I gave up on the bread pudding. After all of the creamed corn I just didn't have room. We drove ourselves home and jumped out of our fancy duds into pjs on the couch, to drift into a fantastic food-induced coma. I will admit that our III Forks waiter seemed a bit abashed when we gave our reason for visiting (the anniversary, not the dress). Regardless of our waiter's feelings on what is suitable for celebration, we had a fabulous time.